UOIT Ridgebacks Media Release
Friday, October 31, 2008

Ridgebacks Lose a Tight Battle Against Yale University

Providence, RI – The UOIT Ridgebacks men’s hockey team put up a good fight but fell a little short in the opening game of the ‘Showcase at Meehan’ as they were defeated by the Yale University Bulldogs 3-1 on Friday.

Yale forward Broc Little's slap shot from the top of the circle off an odd-man rush trickled through Matt Mateja (Mississauga, Ont.) at 5:41 of the first period to open the scoring. Jeremy Whelan's (Pickering, Ont.) even-strength goal nearly three minutes later tied it for the Ridgebacks.

The game's third tally was the only power-play goal as Yale forward Mark Arcobello banged home an attempted shot by sophomore teammate Denny Kearney at 4:17 of the middle frame. Almost nine minutes later, Kevin Peel one-timed a crossing feed past Mateja's blocker, putting Take ahead 3-1.

Mateja had an outstanding game for the Ridgebacks in net, turning away 36 shots against the Ivy League powerhouse, 21 of which were in the final period. Mateja played all but five minutes of the game and gave up all three goals.

Ivy League school’s have become very familiar with Mateja over the last two years, as he has made some outstanding saves in three exhibition games, including making 56 stops in UOIT’s game against Brown University during the Ridgebacks inaugural season.

Senior Alec Richards played in goal for the first 32 minutes for Yale and stopped nine of 10 shots before junior Billy Blase knocked away all seven shots on target the rest of the way.

Yale outshot UOIT 21-6 over the final twenty minutes but couldn't reach the back of the net.

UOIT will now face the Princeton University Tigers at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. It will be a tough test as the Tigers enter the season as the tenth ranked team in the National NCAA Hockey rankings.

‘SHOWCASE AT MEEHAN’ SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Hosted by Brown University – Providence, Rhode Island

Friday, October 31
Yale defeated UOIT 3-1
Brown vs. Princeton – 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 1
Princeton vs. UOIT – 4:30 p.m.
Brown vs. Yale – 7:30 p.m.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS

Conference Record: 2-2-1
Overall Record: 3-6-1

Next Action:
Saturday, November 1 vs. Princeton University (Hosted by Brown University)

Next Home Action:
Friday, November 7 vs. Lakehead (7:30 p.m.) – Campus Ice Centre
Saturday, November 8 vs. Lakehead (3:30 p.m.) – Campus Ice Centre

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Scott Dennis
Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator
Durham College and UOIT Athletics
905.721.2000 Ext. 2784 (P)
905.721.3117 (F)

With files from www.yalebulldogs.cstv.com